Jamie felt adrenaline rushing through him as they finally reached LA.

They didn't have much difficulty in finding Jess' place probably due to the fact that Sarah was driving.

'Hey guys.' Jess welcomed them with a bright smile.

She showed them around in her two bedroom apartment.

'Well, my friend decided to move in my room and you guys will have to share the other one.'

'I can't believe you are doing this for us.' Mandy exclaimed.

Jess laughed. 'I used to babysit Sar with an age difference of just five years but her parents trusted me.'

'Besides, no one else could handle me.' Sarah stated with a pleased smile as if she was proud of the troubles she had caused as a child.

'So when she told me that she wanted to see LA with her friends, I invited her to stay with me. She is like a little sister to me.' Jess said.

'Thanks Jess.' Jamie said sincerely.

'It's no problem at all. You guys make yourself at home and get some rest. Just one thing, don't come home drunk and throw up all over the floor or something. I might deal with that but Chelsea is not that gracious.' She mentioned her 'new' roommate with mirth in her eyes.

'Don't worry. We are not going to go that wild.' Sarah said in a tone which completely negated her words.

Jess left the apartment after some time to hang out with her friends.

Jamie was just imagining getting a good night sleep when Sarah said.

'Guys, it's a Friday night and we are in LA. What are we doing inside?'

It hit Jamie that…yeah, he was in LA.

'Yep guys. Let's go somewhere.'

'Where?' Mandy asked.

'Let's get in the car and explore the streets.'

David whistled loudly and got off the couch.

'LA's air has done some great things to Jamie's head.'

Mandy laughed at that and nodded her head. 'It has, babe.'

Jamie shook his head at them and tossed the keys at Mandy.

'Do you wanna drive?'

'Sure.' Mandy grabbed the keys in the air.

They all loaded up in David's car.

'Roll the windows down people.' David exclaimed. 'We are going to enjoy the Californian breeze.'

After a while of driving and enjoying the life around them, Mandy pulled up in front of a taco stand.

Sarah threw a fist in the air and got out of the car.

'I needed that. You shouldn't drink on an empty stomach.'

Jamie and Mandy stared at her with surprise.

Sarah smiled slyly.

'You guys can drop us off at a bar. We didn't just come here to sightsee.'

'In NY, half of the cops know her dad and all know Jamie's family. It is a bummer really. We can't even hangout properly.' David whined.

'You do realize that you are ditching us, right?' Mandy raised her eyebrows.

'Well, I just thought that since you two are such well-mannered teenagers in making of responsible adults of this great…' David was just starting his tirade when Mandy cut him off.

'Shut up. We are coming.'

'That's the spirit Mandy.' David stated like a proud father.

That night, Jamie partied without a care in the world.

There was no curfew to adhere to and no parental calls to attend.

And there were fake IDs.

But he was sober since he chose to be the designated driver.

He knew that they had to play it safe otherwise chances of them getting caught were quite high.

The next two days were spent in the same routine. Discovering the city and hanging in different bars in the night.

It was like a preview of adult life in his teenage years.

'Only if being adult was that easy,' Mandy remarked disdainfully on hearing his thoughts.

'You okay?' Jamie asked, surprised at the unusual tone.

'Jamie.' Mandy sighed. 'Look, I am sorry but my mom lives this kind of life and she left her family for this. She moved away to chase what she wanted.'

'She wouldn't have been happy if she had stayed back.' Jamie said simply.

'Don't I know that?' Mandy's voice broke.

'Okay. You know what? We are going to spend this day together without David and Sarah. Only you and me. And we are going to have so much fun that you will forget about your mom and all other worries.'

'I like the sound of that.' Mandy smiled tearfully.

Jamie was relieved to see Mandy smiled. Every time Mandy mentioned her mom, Jamie felt different emotions.

He understood why his girlfriend's mom did what she did.

But seeing Mandy cry made him want to give her a huge piece of his mind.

As planned, the couple spent the day together on a beach.

Jamie would later think of it as one of the best days of his life.

The sun rays shone on his girlfriend's face as she sat next to him on the wet sand.

They played with water and talked about everything.

He managed to forget about the nagging thought which was always in the back of his mind i.e. his parents would somehow find out.

Time passed quickly and soon the sun was setting.

They decided to stay back for a while.

Next day, all of them went to Disney Land.

Jamie was relishing the time he was spending with his friends.

He was now at a point that he couldn't bother to feel guilty. He knew that if he had stayed back, he wouldn't have been able to make these amazing memories.

A little voice in his head told him that no matter what happened, he wasn't going to regret this time, ever.

Sarah at that moment vocalized his thoughts.

'I wish I could freeze this moment.'

'Yeah. It's like an escape from reality. We go back and all those mundane life activities are going to start again.' Mandy said.

'We should all adopt a nomadic lifestyle.' David gave his useful suggestion.

'If you do that, we are breaking up.' Sarah declared, making Jamie and Mandy laugh.

'Guy, where are we going tonight?' Mandy asked.

'If my legs don't break by the end of the day, Jess told me about this nice place.'

'If it is nice, it is expensive. And they are not going to let us go in.'

David slapped his hand on Jamie's shoulders.

'Jamers, do you really not trust the IDs I got for you people?'

Jamie gave him a thumbs up.

'It is not that nice.' Sarah drawled.

'One cocktail is enough for tonight.' Mandy said teasingly as they marched forward.

They ended up going to that bar the next night.

Jamie and Mandy were dancing in one corner while David and Sarah were somewhere else.

They broke off as Mandy went to get a drink. Jamie followed her.

He leaned back against a wall, a few steps away from her when a distinctly familiar, shocked voice reached his ears.

'Amanda!'

Jamie's head snapped around and his mouth fell open in horror as the face of his girlfriend's mother came into his view.

TBC…